This invention relates generally to products and substrates having conductive and non-conductive portions. Representative patents on materials having conductive and non-conductive portions include:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,233 to Calvar discloses materials having a conductive band within a non-conductive material. The process allows extrusion of conductive and non-conductive materials at the same time but extrudes materials in a straight line and does not offer an ability to extrude complicated conductive shapes and traces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,407 is directed to extruding semi-conductive and non-conductive heat layers on an electrical cable. The extruded layers are essentially cylinders and are concentric. There is no inter-mixing of materials and non-linear products can not be made.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,120 provides a method to fill a hole on a circuit board with a conductive paste. The conductive paste joins conductive layers within the circuit board following circuit board production.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,925,414 and 6,132,510 are directed to extruding a conductive paste through a stencil or screen onto an essentially planar surface. The method within these patents will not produce a three-dimensional conductive pathway or permit formation of a desired part in a single step.
US Application 2006/0063060 teaches extrusion of a conductive material such as graphite through a non-conductive substrate to produce conductive pathways through a substrate. The extrusion is a secondary process that requires assembly of the graphite substrate and non-conductive substrate.
There remains room for improvement in variation within the art.